Jaunted

Base TSA Screening on Science:
Despite videos that purport to explain checkpoint procedures, the TSA still won't come clean about the real reason we have to take off our shoes at the airport. What's the absolute, verifiable, can't-deny-it truth of the matter? Our kicks come off because the only x-ray technology at most checkpoints is in those belt-fed scanners. If TSA deployed technology that, you know, actually scanned our feet, we wouldn't have to remove our shoes. Can't be done? They're already doing it in Israel.

Stop Spying on Us:
The TSA has started deploying "Behavior Detection Officers" in airports, which is a fancy term for people who sniff around and decide--they'd say with evidence, we'd say whimsically--whether or not a potential passenger needs another pat down or additional questioning. The agency had one "success" when a "behavior detection officer" nabbed a man with bomb making materials in his bag in Orlando in April 2008. Of course, it didn't take special training to find him: One passenger told a CNN affiliate "He looked rather crazy. He was rocking left and right and up and down." We checked court records, and the suspect, Kevin Christopher Brown, has yet to face trial, let alone be convicted of a charge of attempting to carry a weapon or explosive on board aircraft.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on the effectiveness of these "BDOs" at the end of 2007. At that point, the program had collared about 70,000 people for secondary screenings. Less than one percent of them were arrested, which, we shouldn't need to remind you, doesn't mean they were guilty of any crime. A less than one percent success rate? That's bad even for a government agency.

Instruct FEMA to Coordinate with Tourism Agencies:
When a natural disaster is bad enough for FEMA to get involved, there are more immediate problems than what's happening to tourism dollars. But in the wake of hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes or whatever else, part of the rebuilding process should involve local tourism authorities. One of the many awful lessons of Hurricane Katrina was that no matter how many times the media reported that the city was open for business, most people just heard "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Liaising with tourism officials could help restore tourism-driven economies faster and help disaster-stricken communities help themselves.

Make It Easier to Visit the United States:
Napolitano deals with immigration issues in her border state, so we don't need to tell her that US Customs and Border Protection needs a new outlook. While tourists flying into Seattle from, say, Tokyo demand a different sort of attention than law-breaking border jumpers in Arizona, collecting biometric data on just about everyone who enters the country seems a bit excessive. Verifying identity is fine; not telling visitors how long you'll keep their information "on file" isn't.

Foreign tourists drastically outspend domestic travelers, and opening up the country to more tourism might help out with this whole recession thing we've got going on. Now's the time to make it easier for people to come see the hottest destination of 2007--not make it even harder with new restrictions starting January 12, 2009!

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